new 55 gal
9 posts
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memphis - Posts: 31
- Joined: Thu Jul 17, 2008 3:14 pm
new 55 gal
completely new to fish tanks. just looking for advise on how to get started. i just put the water in my tank so its still little cloudy. did some reading but still dont understand a lot of it. i see it takes a while to get tank going and wondering when to get fish and crab shrimp (tank cleaners).also wondering about algea cause i read about bad algea (wondering how to prevent it). a any advise would be great
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singapore - Posts: 238
- Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2008 6:47 pm
well welcome to the hobby. it is the most rewarding hobby you could ever start.
the process of waiting you are about to undergo it called cycling. this is when ammonia levels in ur tank raise drammatically to unsafe levels, then eventually drop back to zero. buy an ammonia test kit, and moniter ammonia levels. Buy a test kit that moniters nitrate, nitrite, pH, alkalinity. those are the basic things u need to test for. buy some liverock to put in your tank, this will get the cycle going, and is pretty much an essential for a saltwater tank. i hate to say it, but you probably shouldt get any fish or inverts for AT LEAST a month. the first things you should buy are some snails, especially astrea snails. they will take care of the algae that has built up during ur cycle. then, buy some hermits a week or so after to clean up the waste from the snails and other microorganisms. the small blue leg hermits are my favorite. after about 6 weeks or so, and ur ammoonia levels are down, nitrate levels are zero, or close to it, and the pH of ur tank is stable, you can get some of the cool stuff. when i first started, i got hardy fish. a few damsels or chromis are good beginner fish. they are active and colorful, and do fine in reef tanks and fish only tanks. you can get some ornamental shrip like cleaner shrimp, peppermint shrimp, blood shrimp and the works. once you get the hang of caring for easy to care for fish and inverts, get some more fish that may be a little more difficult to keep.
The algae boom is inevitable i think. its something you just have to combat at the start.
a protein skimmer helps alot too. it removes nitrates from ur water. if there is one thing you done want to take the cheap alternative to, its this. spen extra and get a powerful one, it will make life alot easier.
i just started my 55 gal too. so im just telling you what i did, and it seems to be working great.
the process of waiting you are about to undergo it called cycling. this is when ammonia levels in ur tank raise drammatically to unsafe levels, then eventually drop back to zero. buy an ammonia test kit, and moniter ammonia levels. Buy a test kit that moniters nitrate, nitrite, pH, alkalinity. those are the basic things u need to test for. buy some liverock to put in your tank, this will get the cycle going, and is pretty much an essential for a saltwater tank. i hate to say it, but you probably shouldt get any fish or inverts for AT LEAST a month. the first things you should buy are some snails, especially astrea snails. they will take care of the algae that has built up during ur cycle. then, buy some hermits a week or so after to clean up the waste from the snails and other microorganisms. the small blue leg hermits are my favorite. after about 6 weeks or so, and ur ammoonia levels are down, nitrate levels are zero, or close to it, and the pH of ur tank is stable, you can get some of the cool stuff. when i first started, i got hardy fish. a few damsels or chromis are good beginner fish. they are active and colorful, and do fine in reef tanks and fish only tanks. you can get some ornamental shrip like cleaner shrimp, peppermint shrimp, blood shrimp and the works. once you get the hang of caring for easy to care for fish and inverts, get some more fish that may be a little more difficult to keep.
The algae boom is inevitable i think. its something you just have to combat at the start.
a protein skimmer helps alot too. it removes nitrates from ur water. if there is one thing you done want to take the cheap alternative to, its this. spen extra and get a powerful one, it will make life alot easier.
i just started my 55 gal too. so im just telling you what i did, and it seems to be working great.
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fihsboy - Posts: 1837
- Joined: Wed Mar 19, 2008 4:20 pm
You certainly want your tank to grow some algae and finish its cycle before you load it up. live rock cycles work great. What kind of tank are you going to start? FOWLR? (Fish Only With Live Rock), FO? (Fish Only), or a reef? if your going with some live rock you want to introduce that before you put in your substrate. let the rock die off and then siphone out your dietrus (dead stuff causing amonia and nitrates). after your cycle is done put some live sand in there.......no matter what you run live sand is going to be the best substrate for you, it helps a ton with filtering. Singapore has some great advice listen to him. :) Its going to take a good 6 to 7 months for your tank to get any seasoning at all. Purple up is a GREAT additive to add in massive amounts when there is no fish or inverts in your tank......get that coraline algae started and working. :)
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memphis - Posts: 31
- Joined: Thu Jul 17, 2008 3:14 pm
i plan on running a FOWLR. i got about 55 lb live rock and 40 lb live sand. i have a power head and skimmer. but i have all that stuff in my tank already. is that alright
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Snowboss4492 - Posts: 2098
- Joined: Sun Jan 27, 2008 11:24 pm
sounds like a great start Memphis.................get your test kits out and test every day or so, do 10% water changes every week for a while and monitor all the parameters, amonia, nitrate, nitrite, PH, and temp............throw a table shrimp {yes the frozen kind you eat} in there for a couple days, it'll get all nasty then take it out and chuck {don't eat it, lol} this will help getting that amonia spike going - - -keep reading and asking questions............
Boss
Boss
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memphis - Posts: 31
- Joined: Thu Jul 17, 2008 3:14 pm
i noticed some like white hair or fuzz on one of my rocks and some one told me to get these emerald crabs that i have (3 of them) to take care of that.so if i put that shrimp in there will it kill them cause of the ammonia spike. if it does it dont matter because i didnt pay much for them, but i was just wondering. ty for all the info.
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jweb1369 - Posts: 547
- Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2008 2:55 am
nah it wont kill them, they will probably eat it fast =) if you have crabs make sure you sprinkle a tiny bit of flake food every now and then.
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newbie916 - Posts: 375
- Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2008 3:12 pm
I recently got into the hobby about a year ago and started out with a 12 gallon for my son and ended up picking up a 100g established system on e-bay.
I had huge nitrate problems and the guys on this forum have been a valued asset and helped me keep my sanity. The one mistake I made was put my live sand in first and placed the live rock on top of the sand. This caused dead spots between the rock and the sand, which in turn caused massive nitrate spikes. It took me 3 weeks and water changes every three days before I realized my problem. After sifting my sand forward and placing the rocks at the bottom and letting the powerheads push the sand into place, I've finally resolved my problem.
I also took Schigara's advice and used my powerheads to blow off all of the fish poo and dead stuff that accumulates on my rocks. I also use the powerhead to blow through the sand to help keep it clean.
A good size cleaning crew is also helpful because when I bought the tank it only came with maybe a dozen various snails, a dozen hermit crabs, and one cleaner shrimp. I buffed it up to 50 hermits, 2 dozen astrea and turbo snails, 15 sand sifting snails, 1 large electric blue hermit. 1 cleaner shrimp, 1 fire shrimp, 10 peppermint shrimp, 3 emerald crabs, and a serpent star. They are awesome at cleaning the algae and any excess food. There usually isn't any excess food laying around cuz someone picks it up.
You're in very good hands with these guys and you have picked a great and addicting hobby.
I had huge nitrate problems and the guys on this forum have been a valued asset and helped me keep my sanity. The one mistake I made was put my live sand in first and placed the live rock on top of the sand. This caused dead spots between the rock and the sand, which in turn caused massive nitrate spikes. It took me 3 weeks and water changes every three days before I realized my problem. After sifting my sand forward and placing the rocks at the bottom and letting the powerheads push the sand into place, I've finally resolved my problem.
I also took Schigara's advice and used my powerheads to blow off all of the fish poo and dead stuff that accumulates on my rocks. I also use the powerhead to blow through the sand to help keep it clean.
A good size cleaning crew is also helpful because when I bought the tank it only came with maybe a dozen various snails, a dozen hermit crabs, and one cleaner shrimp. I buffed it up to 50 hermits, 2 dozen astrea and turbo snails, 15 sand sifting snails, 1 large electric blue hermit. 1 cleaner shrimp, 1 fire shrimp, 10 peppermint shrimp, 3 emerald crabs, and a serpent star. They are awesome at cleaning the algae and any excess food. There usually isn't any excess food laying around cuz someone picks it up.
You're in very good hands with these guys and you have picked a great and addicting hobby.